Google deliberately impeded the Federal Communications Commission's investigation into how the technology firm used data gathered as part of its Street View project, the agency says.
The FCC notified Google that it has proposed that the company be fined $25,000; Google can appeal the fine.
In a company statement, Google responded that "we worked in good faith to answer the FCC's questions throughout the inquiry, and we're pleased that they have concluded that we complied with the law."
The investigation, begun in the fall of 2010, did not produce any evidence that the tech giant had misused any data gathered during its Street View project. Initially available in May 2007 in a few cities such as New York and San Francisco, Google's Street View offers searchable panoramic views of streets.
During the process of capturing images, Google's fleet of WiFi-ready Street View vehicles captured web surfing data, passwords and emails. Two years ago, Google admitted that its cars had captured the data, but said that it was done accidentally and that would delete the data and, in the future, not gather it.
The Federal Trade Commission dropped its probe into the incident in 2010, prior to the FCC beginning its own.
The FCC first asked for information from Google in November 2010 and in August 2011 threatened subpoenas without adequate response. The agency did interview five employees after the company's Sept. 7, 2011 response. "Google violated Commission orders by delaying its search for and production of responsive e-mails and other communications, by failing to identify employees, and by withholding verification of the completeness and accuracy of its submissions," the agency's report says. "Google's level of cooperation with this investigation fell well short of what we expect and require."
FCC Enforcement Bureau chief Michele Ellison said in a statement that the agency's investigation "found that while personal data such as emails, passwords and web histories were collected en masse by Google cars driving streets across America, the available information did not prove a violation of the privacy provisions of communications laws."
Google took the position that it was not in violation of the federal wiretapping laws because it collected only unencrypted data from WiFi networks. The main oftware engineer involved in the project invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify in the process.
Several other countries including Canada, France and the Netherlands have ruled that Google's Street View data collections violated online privacy or other data laws.
Canadian privacy officials found, according to the FCC's report on the investigation, "complete email messages, along with email headers, IP addresses, machine hostnames, and the contents of cookies, instant messages and chat sessions ... (and) instances of particularly sensitive information, including computer login credentials (i.e., usernames and passwords), the details of legal infractions, and certain medical listings."
French authorities found, within Street View data that it analyzed, emails between email exchanges between "married woman and man, both seeking an extra-marital relationship" for which first names, email addresses and street addresses could be matched. Also found: "web addresses that revealed the sexual preferences of consumers at specific residences," the report says.
The case, Ellison says, "is an important opportunity to educate the public about the vulnerabilities and risks of unencrypted Wi-Fi networks."
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